Containment mechanisms of various kinds are known in the art including, but not limited to, boxes, envelopes, drawers, trunks, sleeves, cases, and so forth. Such containment mechanisms typically serve to contain one or more items of interest. Such items may be new and intended for distribution and/or sale or may be previously used and intended for storage, moving, resale, or the like. In many cases it may be desired to know and/or be able to respond to when such a containment mechanism is opened, accessed, or otherwise manipulated in some predetermined manner.
For example, in some cases it may be desirable to detect unauthorized access of a given containment mechanism in order to facilitate protecting those corresponding contents. In other cases it may be desired to take a specific action in response to knowing when a particular kind of containment mechanism manipulation has occurred.
Electrical circuits exist that can serve, for example, as an alarm system for a given containment mechanism. Unfortunately, such an approach tends to be relatively costly and tends to find use only with relatively higher-end applications and typically applications that permit reuse of the relatively expensive electrical circuit itself. As a result, numerous application needs remain commercially unmet.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions and/or relative positioning of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various embodiments of the present invention. Also, common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present invention. It will further be appreciated that certain actions and/or steps may be described or depicted in a particular order of occurrence while those skilled in the art will understand that such specificity with respect to sequence is not actually required. It will also be understood that the terms and expressions used herein have the ordinary meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressions with respect to their corresponding respective areas of inquiry and study except where specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein.